SERIOUS QUESTION; IS MUSIC THE NEW OIL MONEY IN NIGERIA?

Yea, I know the title is a bit confusing, and no this is not a click bait. I am genuinely asking cos I need an answer.

Way back when (and still present in a way,) oil money was the legal way forward to ‘ball.’ Once anyone hears you are working in an Oil&Gas company, all they think of is the number of extra zeroes in your bank account, your house in Lekki or Banana Island or any high-end place, your fleet of cars, and your ability to afford things – to a degree – that a regular worker can’t. All these things are basically true as oil is the major source of income in Nigeria for many years (except Obasanjo’s tenure because he used agriculture instead), which is why many people have been scuffling and are still doing so trying to work in an oil company.

On the other side of the ring, we have music. Yes, we know music is a business – a thriving business, – and there are millions of musicians fighting to make it in a very crowded career space. For years (pre-digital distribution), musicians had to sweat their lives away to afford to buy land and build a bungalow in a normal area (with FESTAC being the go-to area for many), and many A-list artists then living in a rented apartment. Thanks to digital distribution and online streaming, musicians have been able to double and even triple their income like never before.

However, the rate at which they are beginning to afford the expensive things is quite amazing and alarming, which is why I am asking; is music the new oil money?

You see people who have spent barely three years in the industry like Kiss Daniels, Mayorkun, Reekado Banks, etc., buying the type of houses and cars that will make one’s jaw drop. Kiss Daniels even recently got two houses on the island which will be worth nothing less than 300 million combined.